Vijayawada: Around 70 per cent of people in Andhra Pradesh have expressed satisfaction with the coalition government’s measures to curb ganja and drug abuse, while sustained efforts are needed to address the remaining 30 per cent, education and IT minister Nara Lokesh said on Wednesday.
Participating in a Cabinet sub-committee meeting on ganja and drug control at the State Secretariat, chaired by home minister Vangalapudi Anitha, Lokesh said the stringent steps taken so far were yielding positive results. He directed officials to remain vigilant until the menace was completely eradicated.
Lokesh called for a concrete action plan to operate de-addiction centres under the supervision of NGOs and stressed the need to introduce a “Drug-Free Andhra Pradesh” curriculum from kindergarten to post-graduation level to create awareness among students. He also instructed officials to integrate the Eagle App with the LEAP App to improve coordination.
Officials informed the meeting that ganja cultivation had been completely eliminated in the State, making Andhra Pradesh a “zero ganja cultivation” state. Under the Eagle (Elite Anti-Narcotics Group for Law Enforcement) initiative, the State has fully integrated with the NCORD (Narco-Coordination Centre) framework and systematically dismantled illegal ganja and drug trafficking networks.
So far, 1,721 cases have been registered under the NDPS Act and 4,421 persons arrested. Authorities have also formed 40,000 Eagle Clubs and conducted 35,400 awareness programmes to educate students and the public on the harmful effects of drugs. Officials said Andhra Pradesh has emerged as a model for other states in narcotics control.
Health minister Satya Kumar Yadav, DGP Harish Kumar Gupta, Eagle IG Ake Ravikrishna and senior officials attended the meeting.